India : Bhubaneswar Development Authority body to oversee smart city station project

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday allowed the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the much ambitious railway station multi-modal hub project under the Smart City Mission.

"There is already an SPV in the name of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), which has started implementing various IT-backed and pan-city projects. Since the multi-modal project is over Rs 1,000 crore, an exclusive SPV is required to oversee and expedite the work," said BSCL chief executive officer Vineel Krishna.

The multi-modal project will come up in front of the city railway station stretching till the Ashok Nagar market. This area comes under the Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD) area, which is an 985-acre area extending from Bapuji Nagar to Saheed Nagar. The BTCD area will turn into a model downtown after the completion of the multi-modal hub project.

Krishna said the new SPV will function under the BDA. This will be a separate SPV, solely implemented by the BDA unlike the BSCL, he said.